Guild set to fight children-in-pubs plan

The Guild of Master Victuallers is to lobby the government over its plans to allow unaccompanied children into pubs.

At its annual conference this week, members voted unanimously to urge the Department for Culture, Media and Sport not to proceed with the plans.

Member Bill Sharp said: "This is a disgusting law. We should only have family friendly pubs where suitable.

"This government is not going to write us an exemption for insurance and health and safety to have kids in pubs."

Under the Licensing Bill the government aims to make pubs more family-friendly by allowing unaccompanied children to enter pubs on their own to buy food and soft drinks.

This was amended in the House of Lords but the government overturned the decision.

Any pub that does not want to admit children will have the right to exclude them.

However, many licensees are concerned that the uncertainty created by policies which vary from pub to pub will lead to conflict with parents or teenagers causing problems if refused.

When the plan first emerged, a poll on thePublican.com showed that 95 per cent of licensees didn't want children in their pubs without an adult.

The proposal has had the backing of the NSPCC, which described it as "the perfect opportunity to make public spaces more child-friendly while protecting children from the less salubrious side of drinking".

The British Beer & Pub Association is also supporting it, saying the Lords' amendment was "an unnecessary layer of regulation".